1. KAI ZHANG zhangkai@mail.utexas.edu
Nuclear Fusion Power
KAI ZHANG
Oct

2. Sun
How dose sun work? Where dose the energy come from?

3. Instruction What is the nuclear fusion power? Advantages.
Research bottle neck.
Experimental reactor.
Future.

4. What is nuclear fusion power?
Fusion power is the power that drives the stars. it is based on fusing light nuclei such as hydrogen isotopes to release energy.
In the core of the sun at temperatures of million degrees Celsius, Hydrogen is converted to Helium providing enough energy to sustain life on earth.

5. Nuclei of two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium (D) and tritium (T) react to produce a helium (He) nucleus and a neutron (n). A lot of energy is liberated at the same time:

6. Advantages of Fusion power
Abundant Fuel Supply--water
No Risk of a Nuclear Accident since any malfunction results in a rapid shutdown.
No Air Pollution leading to "greenhouse" effect.
No High-level Nuclear Waste
No Generation of Weapons Material

7. Conditions for a Fusion Reaction
High Temperature
Over 100 million deg. C
Isolation
Hot plasma must be well isolated away from other material surfaces
High fuel density
The density of fuel ions must be sufficiently large. Refill fuel fast and remove Helium fast.

8. Solutions so far High temperature: Isolation-Magnetic field
1. Large current heating-7 million amperes (7MA)
2. High speed neutral beam heating-140,000 volts
3. Radio-Frequency Heating-20MW Current Driven by Microwaves heating
Isolation-Magnetic field
plasma consists of two types of charged particles, so magnetic fields can be used to isolate it from the vessel walls

9. Experimental reactor-Europe JET plant

10. Experimental reactor-Europe JET plant

11. > Big Problem: the power required to maintain the reaction
the power generated by the fusion reaction
>
High temperature
High magnetic field
High fuel density

12. Big event: ITER Project
Future:
It is still very far away from really using the nuclear fusion power. A lot of research work need to be done. People are still not sure if it is economical enough comparing with other forms of power
Big event: ITER Project
The European Union, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China are going to build the largest nuclear fusion plant in France and try to achieve the targets of a self-sustaining reaction and a net energy gain.

13. Thanks !